The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (also known as Mr. Stay Puft or nicknamed 'Tubby Soft-Squeeze' by Ray and Peter) was the final enemy of the Ghostbusters in the first film. He was the chosen Destructor Form of Gozer, when Ray let the idea of a company logo "just pop in there".

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The Ghostbusters were told to choose the form of their destructor, and Ray "chose" him as the form. All the other guys claimed they had emptied their minds, but Ray said he tried to think of something that could never harm them. As a child, Ray used to roast Stay Puft Marshmallows on the fire at Camp Waconda. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was simply the mascot for the Stay Puft brand. His accidental choice resulted in Gozer being manifest in the form of a 100-foot tall homicidal marshmallow man bent on destroying the Ghostbusters and New York.

"It just popped in there"

Stay Puft passed through Columbus Circle towards the Shandor Building and stepped on a church next door before trying to scale the 55 Central Park West. After the Ghostbusters tried to blast him with their Proton Packs, Stay Puft caught on fire and nearly roasted the Ghostbusters. The guys then decided to cross the streams to transfer the particle flow through the gateway and when they did this, Stay Puft arrived at the top. The Temple of Gozer and Stay Puft blew up. Marshmallow residue rained down all over the street, hitting thousands of citizens, with one glob landing straight on Walter Peck.

During the start of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 1991, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man made his return to the physical plane. Due to the Cult of Gozer's manipulations with the Mandala, Gozer was able to re-manifest again. And again, in the form of Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, this time rampaging through Times Square. Ray wondered why Gozer assumed the form of the Marshmallow Man again, as there are surely more effective world-destroying forms he could have taken. Ray ends up theorizing that there's "one Destructor Form per god per dimension", meaning Gozer can only assume this form in Earth's dimension. It is identified as a Class VII Outsider Avatar and a Deity (a supreme being). Because of complications Gozer faced penetrating the human realm, the Destructor Form was not even as powerful as his original incarnation, which would seem to be confirmed by him eventually being overcome by the firepower of a single Ghostbuster, the Rookie, who used the Boson Dart, a new feature added to the Proton Pack, against the god. Stay Puft being weaker than he was before may also explain why the Ghostbusters originally planned to trap him in Ecto-1b'sSuper Slammer Muon Trap.

He demonstrated a new power, to spawn numerous Marshmallow Minis, minor Marshmallow minions of him. Gozer tried to capture Ilyssa Selwyn in order to sacrifice her and make himself stronger, but ultimately failed. Not able to reach its full potential, the Stay Puft Destructor Form was destroyed, covering all the surrounding buildings and streets with hot marshmallow shower. Its giant hat also fell down on a building, where it is last seen hanging.

After his apparent destruction as Gozer's chosen form, Stay Puft became a good guy (and could speak) and made a few appearances in the animated series (even though being evil in non-canon pilot). He was in the intro of the first season, he was dreamed up from a sleeping little boy, and he helped the Ghostbusters fight evil ghosts occasionally. Stay Puft was eventually dropped in later seasons. He never appeared on Extreme Ghostbusters.

It should probably be noted that the animated series were either unaware or chose to ignore the fact that the Marshmallow Man was a manifestation of Gozer. The series seemed to treat them as separate beings.

For more information of the animated version of this character go to the animated article.

After the Shandor incident, the Ghostbusters encountered Stay Puft again. They managed to disperse enough of his P.K.E. to stunt reformation and spectral mitosis then used multiple Ghost Traps to capture most of Gozer's essence. It was then stored in the Containment Unit. [1][2]

During the events of the Infestation, a new type of Poltergeists with a different energy signature from typical entities escaped from the Containment Unit. During the breach and unknown to the Ghostbusters, Gozer's essence escaped and Stay Puft Marshmallow Man reformed. Eventually, Ray was the one to discover this and informed the rest of the team. As a news crews provided a live feed of Stay Puft's march on West 57th Street, all 37 remaining Zombies were routed by Britt to infect, and thus weaken, Stay Puft so she may complete her mission and capture a portion of Gozer's essence. [3]

The Ghostbusters arrive and determine the best course of action is to attempt a massive ectoplasmic cross-pollination and inoculate Stay Puft with dozens of the recaptured Poltergeists. However, during this plan, Stay Puft literally tears himself apart and a zombie doppelganger is formed. Now weakened by the forced split, Stay Puft continues to fight. Concerned about the continued presence of Necrotic Slime, Egon Spengler urged the team to continue releasing Poltergeists. After the necrotic double was safely destroyed, Stay Puft's readings began to diminish. The split affected him on a molecular level and caused him to disperse. [4] By Egon's calculations, Stay Puft will eventually reform then another uptick in supernatural activity will occur as his energies wander around Manhattan.

Months later, during a precognitive episode, Ray saw the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man but in his visage. Ray's Spirit Guide assured Ray it was good he felt responsible for Stay Puft. With the reformation of Stay Puft looming, Ray went to work and completed the Megatrap, designed to capture large entities in one shot. During the Re-Selection of Gozer's Destructor Form, the spirit guide influenced Ray first and had him think only of Stay Puft. Ray complied and Gozer manifested as Stay Puft once again. While the other Ghostbusters opened fire on him, Ray went downstairs with the Megatrap to room 2206. Ray held the Megatrap out a window and trapped enough of Gozer's essence to defeat Stay Puft. Without it, Stay Puft exploded. The residue covered one square mile with a depth of up to six inches, causing heavy utility damage and covering most of Central Park.

A couple of weeks into the Tiamat incident, the latent spirit of Gozer made mental contact with Ray Stantz. Two of the forms Gozer assumed was that of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man on fire. During the battle between Gozer and Tiamat in Ray's mind, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man appeared in Ray's memories of the Ghostbusters most recent battle with him. Tiamat pulled Stay Puft from the memory and battled him. As Tiamat tore away at Stay Puft, Gozer emerged from that form as a Sloar.

In Ghostbusters game for Sega Mega Drive, which is set between the movies (and which canon status is moot), Stay Puft appears again as a boss. However, this Stay Puft is not connected to Gozer in any way
To Read more on Stay Puft in Ghostbusters Sega game, click here.

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was added to version 1.1.0 of Ghostbusters by Beeline. He appears at 14:00 on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It will take 10 attacks to defeat him. After each defeat, he will respawn an hour later.

You have 24 hours to defeat him completely (i.e. 10 times) before he disappears. Defeat him for the ninth time to gain three power cores. Defeat him for the tenth and final time to gain a GB Utility Knife.

Abilities
Stay Puft can spawn Stay Puft Mini Men and can drench a Ghostbuster in marshmallow residue. He also has the ability to punch a Ghostbuster from the side of the screen.

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is a Class 7 Outsider Avatar (alternatively a Class 7 Avatar Manifestation in the Stylized Version of Ghostbusters: The Video Game) as evidenced when it was scanned during the Shandor Incident in 1991.

Originally, Stay Puft was believed to be a Deity (Supreme Being). In its Paranormal Contracts Oversight Commission file, Stay Puft is stated to be a psychokinetically charged and ectoplasmically animated gateway homunculus. [5] It was also stated with each formation, the Gozer energy signatures were accompanied by physical readings from Stay Puft. More and more latent psychokinetic energy was drawn into the creature to compensate for Gozer's deficiencies thus Stay Puft became more and more of a separate entity from Gozer. Potentially, being animated with energies without any kind of will makes Stay Puft more vulnerable to domination by intelligent powers other than Gozer. In theory, Class 5 ghosts and up, who are capable of animating physical mass and drawing latent P.K.E. from the environment could take control of Stay Puft.

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was originally a throw away character in the midway point and didn't become the final encounter until the July 6, 1983 draft. [8][9]

In all drafts but the final, Stay Puft was conjured up by Winston instead of Ray. [10][11]

Originally, Stay Puft was going to be much larger. During production, one faction of the production unit wanted him to be 100 feet tall and another wanted him to be 125 feet tall. Ivan Reitman stepped in and declared Stay Puft would be 112.5 feet tall. [12]

The Stay Puft suit was made from pliable foam and it had a fiberglass skull with cable-actuated mechanisms for facial movement. [13]

Three different heads were made for different expressions needed during filming. [14]

In the scene in Ghostbusters when Dana Barrett comes home from the grocer, one of the things in her bags are Stay Puft Marshmallows.

It helped set up subliminal awareness of the character along with the billboard by the Firehouse. [15]

Dan Aykroyd likens Stay Puft to a brand symbol, like the Michelin Man or Pillsbury Doughboy, manipulated by Gozer. [16]

After seeing initial footage of Stay Puft in motion, Ivan Reitman was nervous if it could be pulled off. The effects crew assured him it would work and it wasn't the finished suit. [17]

Three suits were used in the first movie, costing $20,000 to $35,000 each. An actor kept falling in the sequences when Stay Puft was on fire. Connie Caesar was hired. Caesar was against using supplied air and argued with Thaine Morris, mechanical effects supervisor, about it for 10 minutes. Morris insisted he use supplied air because the foam on the costume was toxic. [18]

The crew's concern Stay Puft might come across as too silly were dashed in the movie's first screening. The audience loved him. [19]

For the scenes of Stay Puft on fire, a stuntman wore a special fire-retardant suit that was rigged with pyrotechnics. [20]

Entertainment Effects Group made a miniature set of a part of Central Park West and the adjacent park. Stay Puft's facial expressions were cable controlled and manipulated by four puppeteers under the elevated set. The footage was shot a three times normal speed to enhance Stay Puft's sense of mass. [21]

Harold Ramis spent a lot of time trying to rationalize the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. He concluded mankind's biggest fear of the unknown would be proven to be insubstantial as marshmallow. [22]

There was an unscripted addition to the aftermath of Stay Puft's destruction. His hat was to fall down onto the street. [23] A giant aluminum-reinforced sailor's hat, 18 feet in diameter, was lowered by a giant crane. Due to pacing issues, the gag was cut from the final version of the movie. [24]

As for the explanation of Stay Puft being in the Containment Unit preceding the events Ghostbusters: Infestation #1, writer Erik Burnham revealed "As to Stay Puft in containment? Well, I do have a "movie-ish" explanation for that that I didn't have the space to pop into this script, so I let it lie" [30] and "I promise, if I ever get to do GB again, I'll put Mr. Stay Puft back in and explain exactly how it works." [31]

In Ghostbusters Issue #1's Ghostly Gallery, Erik Burnham writes Ray Puft was intended to both show Ray felt responsible for Stay Puft and foreshadow more of a link between the two. In the script, Ray Puft was described as Stay Puft with Ray's face. As the design went on, Burnham toyed with a radical amalgam of Ray Puft in a big blue jump suit but Dan Schoening's design convinced him simple was better. [32][33]

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 180 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "Early brainstorming had the Stay-Puft marshmallow man as but an interdimensional form which the Gozer assumes on its way to becoming something truly monstrous, both in size and appearance. Berni Wrightson's exploration of this theme was both surreal and terrifying."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 184 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Michael Gross says: "Originally, we were going to have the Stay-Puft marshmallow man rise up out of the river, right by the Statue of Liberty, to give him scale. Understandably, the effects people didn't like the idea - any effects shot involving water is really hard to pull off. We finally realized that it didn't make any difference where he came from - he could just appear. The audience assumes that he just materializes."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 189 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Harold Ramis says: "In Dan's script, the Stay-Puft marshmallow man was pretty much a throwaway - just another effect. But it was such a great image that we decided to use it as the manifestation of Gozer the Destructor. We were always nervous about it, though. Would the audience find him cute, or find him stupid? Could he be both cute and terrifying? It was such a big effect - we knew if we used it, it would have to be the climax of the film. We were very worried about it."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 197 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "Though present in every draft of the script, the Stay-Puft marshmallow man did not become the Ghostbusters' final encounter until the July rewrite. In fact, in Dan Aykroyd's original screenplay, the Stay-Puft man appeared just slightly past the midway point as but one of several Gozer manifestations. The Stay-Puft confrontation came considerably later in the first Aykroyd-Ramis collaboration, but even in that draft, the Ghostbusters were to regroup in New Jersey for a final battle with the Gozer in its most terrifying form - a swirling psychic maelstrom topped by a disembodied sphid's head of monstrous proportions."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 184 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "In all of the drafts but the final one, it is Winston - not Stantz - who inadvertently conjures up the Stay-Puft marshmallow man."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 184 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Harold Ramis says: "We had to talk Danny into it. It goes back to his generosity - he saw it as Winston's big moment. But Ivan and I both felt very strongly that it should be Dan's line. The Stay-Puft marshmallow man was, after all, Dan's creation in reality. So why shouldn't he create it in the film? He resisted for a long time, but finally accepted the notion."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 186. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "A John Deveikis illustration for the original Dan Aykroyd script suggested a much larger marshmallow man than was ultimately decide upon. Since one faction within the production unit argued for a 100-foot tall version while another favored a somewhat larger 125-foot tall version, Ivan Reitman settled the dispute by declaring that the Stay-Puft marshmallow man would be 112.5 feet tall."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 187 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "The Stay-Puft marshmallow man suit was constructed from pliable foam and featured a fiberglass skull with cable-actuated mechanisms for facial movement."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 187 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "In all, three different heads were needed to achieve the required range of expressions - from smiles to looks of surprise to grimaces."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 138 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Michael Gross says: "We wanted the audience to be at least subliminally aware of the Stay-Puft marshmallow man, to set up his appearance later in the film. We had already introduced the bag of marshmallows in Dana's apartment, and we thought the billboard would be a good way to reinforce it. It was also a way to preserve the line from Dan's script, which he really liked. I don't know if anyone ever notices the billboard, but it's the kind of detail that rounds out the film."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 189 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Dan Aykroyd says: "Mr. Stay-Puft is really just a brand symbol - like the Michelin tire man or the Pillsbury doughboy - who has come out of the American consciousness and is then thrown back in our faces by Gozer. It's like: 'You created this white monster to sell your products, and it seems harmless and puffy and cute - but given the right circumstances, everything can be turned back and become evil.'"

↑John Bruno (1999). Ghostbusters (1984) "SFX Team Featurette" (1999) (DVD ts. 10:40-10:57). Columbia Pictures. John Bruno says: "And was doing this double bounce walk like a cartoon character and it looked really, really stupid and Ivan - we sent over this footage and he went 'Oh my God. Is this the end of the movie?' And he was really nervous and we kept saying 'It's gonna work. You haven't seen the finished suit.'."

↑Thaine Morris (1999). Ghostbusters (1984) "SFX Team Featurette" (1999) (DVD ts. 10:58-11:32). Columbia Pictures. Thaine Morris says: "We got a $25-$35,000 suit and we got three of them in the world. We set the guy on fire, he falls down. That's the universal signal of 'I'm in trouble' so we put him out. There goes 20,000 bucks. We'll try this again tomorrow night. He did it again. And he does it again. We hired Connie Caesar and 'Ok, step on this box - slap the top of the church. Got it?' 'Yeah, but I don't want supplied air' We argued for 10 minutes about the fact he was going to have to be supplied air because the foam on this thing was toxic."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 189 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Ivan Reitman says: "Our concern was that the Stay-Puft man would take the movie into an area of silliness that would just discount everything else. All through the writing process, and even into production, we tried to come up with an alternative - but we kept coming back to it. It just seemed right to go for the laugh at the end. And we had such a good rationale for it - it would be the first thing that would pop into Stantz' head. So I finally said: 'To hell with it. Let's go.' But that's what I was waiting for at the first screening - to see how the marshmallow man was going to play. Fortunately, the audience went nuts over him - applauding and everything. It was a great moment of relief for all of us."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 191 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "For scenes of the Stay-Puft man bursting into flame, a special fire-retardant suit was rigged with pyrotechnics and worn by a stuntman scaling the miniature apartment building."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 191 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "A portion of Central Park West and the adjacent park was constructed in miniature at Entertainment Effects Group. Cables operating the marshmallow man's facial expressions ran down through a slit in the elevated set to a trolley underneath - manned by four puppeteers. Cars were either radio-controlled or pulled on wires, and the footage was shot at three times normal speed to enhance the Stay-Puft man's apparent sense of mass."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 194 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Harold Ramis says: "I was concerned throughout this whole process that they physics of it make sense somehow - that intelligent people wouldn't look at what we were doing and think it was totally ridiculous. I did a lot of rationalizing when it came to the Stay-Puft marshmallow man. Morally, no one else cared that much. I was the only one who kept agonizing about what it all meant - what does the universe really look like, and is it possible this could actually happen? As bizarre as it was, I wanted the film to say something about life - even if it was subliminal. I knew if I could just harmonize it in my own mind, I'd feel a lot better about it. Finally, I found some symbolism in the fact that the whole world of the paranormal seems to represent people's abstract fears - people need a place to put all that nameless dread and so they put it into ghosts and things unseen. But the real source of that dread is in very real things like violence and death and economic uncertainty. So it seemed to me very appropriate that when our monster finally appeared, it turned out to be marshmallow - that literally and figuratively, our biggest fear of the unknown was as insubstantial as marshmallow."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 196. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "An unscripted addition to the sequence involved a shot of the marshmallow man's hat plummeting to the street after its wearer has been vaporized."

↑Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 196. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "To achieve the shot, an aluminum-reinforced sailor's hat - eighteen feet in diameter - was attached to a giant crane and then lowered into the crowd. Though successfully executed, editorial pacing resulted in the elaborate gag's being cut from the final release."

↑Aykroyd, Dan & Ramis, Harold (1988). Ghostbusters II (August 5, 1988 Draft) (Script p. 20). "Ray Stantz says: "Because the last time we got involved in a case we accidentally conjured up a hundred foot marshmallow man and blew up the top three floors off a very exclusive high-rise."

↑Rennie Handrahan; After Panic in Times Square, Firehouse 2nd Floor Answering Machine Message 5 of 13 (2009). Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Realistic Versions) - Firehouse (2009) (PC/PS3/Xbox 360). Terminal Reality. Rennie Handrahan says: "Rennie Handrahan with Comm Core Corp. Stay Puft Marshmallows are one of the many high quality products we make here at Comm Core. Frankly, we're outraged. You may have fooled the city with your little puppet show but not us! This company has worked over 75 years to cultivate the family friendly image of Mr. Stay Puft. He was modeled after somebody's uncle for crying out loud! And it wasn't all so you could go to war with him in downtown Manhattan! This is defamation of character on the grandest scale! You'll be hearing from us Ghostbusters! Have a sunny, funny Comm Core Corp day."

↑Male Caller; After Panic in Times Square, Firehouse 2nd Floor Answering Machine Message 8 of 13 (2009). Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Realistic Versions) - Firehouse (2009) (PC/PS3/Xbox 360). Terminal Reality. Male Caller says: "Oh, man! I just saw you guys on TV! Man, that marshmallow dude was all like "Blarg!" and "Psh-ka-blam!" And you guys were like all like "Not in my city!" "Za-pow!" "Free-Augh!" And people were like "Aah!" Aw, man. You guys are awesome! So, like... how's it going?"

↑Dale; After Panic in Times Square, Firehouse 2nd Floor Answering Machine Message 10 of 13 (2009). Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Realistic Versions) - Firehouse (2009) (PC/PS3/Xbox 360). Terminal Reality. Dale says: "This is Dale at Trottrove Rentalux Chocolates. I don't suppose you guys could know if there is a possibility of you guys fighting a Graham Cracker monster in the near future? 'Kay, cause if so, perhaps we can work a deal where Stay Puft could just be captured and not destroyed? Thanks."